Wanda James

Wanda James
Member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents from the 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 5, 2023
Preceded by	John "Jack" Kroll
Personal details
Political party	Democratic

Wanda L. James is the first African American woman to own a marijuana dispensary in the United States.

In 2022, James was elected to represent Congressional District 1 on the University of Colorado Board of Regents. She is the first Black woman elected to the Board of Regents in 43 years. She is also the only cannabis professional elected to public office in Colorado. The Board of Regents is one of the most powerful boards in the state. They are the governing body for a university system that oversees four campuses (Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Anshutz Medical Campus) and are responsible for a budget of over $6 billion.

Life

James is married to Scott Durrah, a former United States Marine. He is a certified chef.

Education

In 1986, James graduated from the University of Colorado, and was the first Black woman to complete the university's ROTC program. After graduation she was commissioned into the United States Navy. She also graduated from the Inaugural Class of the Los Angeles African American Women's Public Policy Institute at the University of Southern California.

Career

James is a former naval officer, who served as an Integrated Undersea Surveillance System officer and whose duties included tracking submarines.

Her political career has spanned over two decades, beginning in Los Angeles working on numerous campaigns as the communications director. After moving to Colorado, she became a campaign manager for numerous candidates. She managed Colorado representative Jared Polis's first campaign, and ran the 2006 congressional race in Colorado Springs, Colorado for Lieutenant Colonel Jay Fawcett. She worked on former President Barack Obama's 2008 National Finance Committee. She worked on Colorado governor John Hickenlooper's task force for Colorado's Amendment 64. She also served on Senator Kamala Harris' National Finance Committee as she ran for POTUS.

She has served as the President of the Nation Women's Political Caucus - Los Angeles. She was named a Junior League Board Fellow in 2002 and also served on the board of directors of the Starlight Children's Foundation and the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce. She was appointed to the Los Angeles Small and Local Business Commission.

Moving to Colorado, her first board appointment was on the Alumni Board at the University of Colorado. She worked on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's task force for Colorado's Amendment 64. She also served on Governor Jared Polis' 2019 Transition Team and Mayor Mike Johnson's 2023 Transition Team. She was appointed to the Colorado Tourism Board in 2019.

She was drawn to get into the cannabis industry after discovering that America's prison system was fueled by Black and Latino arrests for possession of cannabis, an issue that her brother faced in the early 1990s. Before opening a dispensary, she worked as an executive for two Fortune 100 companies (Avery and Unum) and one of the largest non-profits in California (SCPH). She and her husband also owned five restaurants in Los Angeles and Denver. When she opened a dispensary in 2009 with her husband, she became the first Black dispensary owner in the United States. The pair opened Simply Pure Medicated Edibles in 2010 and became the largest edible medical cannabis company in Colorado. In 2015, Simply Pure became a dispensary in the LoHi neighborhood in Denver. She is a managing partner at the Cannabis Global Initiative.

Honors and appearances

James has appeared on the covers of seven national magazines. In 1997 she graced the cover of the February issue of Black Enterprise for following her passion and leaving corporate America. She was featured on the inaugural edition of the April 2016 issue of Sensi Magazine, the January 2018 issue of Dispensary Magazine the Fall 2018 cover of Cannabis & Tech, the November 2020 cover of Vanguard Magazine, the October 2021 cover of the Denver Urban Spectrum, and most recently the cover December 2023 issue of Cannabis Business Times.

In 2023, she was honored by Grow Up Cannabis in Canada as the Champion of Justice and Equity, and she was the first cannabis professional named to Ad Week's 2021 Trailblazer Award alongside VP Kamala Harris and Tracee Ellis Ross. In 2019, Wanda was the first person inducted into the MJ Biz Cannabis Hall of Fame. In 2018, James was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the cannabis industry by High Times Magazine, in 2015 she was named One of the TOP 50 Female Executives by the publication Cannabis Business Executive (CBE), and in 2010 James was named the Marijuana Advocate of the Year by Westword magazine.

She has appeared on numerous television shows, including SMOKE on BET, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, CBS Sunday Morning, CNBC's Marijuana USA, and Smile Jamaica.